The Minnesota Vikings are settling into this new 277,000-square-foot headquarters and practice facility in Eagan. The building anchors a 200-acre campus at Dodd Road and Lone Oak Parkway. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

Vikings HQ blends tech and tradition

One feature of the new Minnesota Vikings corporate headquarters and practice facility in Eagan is the “Super Highway” — a wide corridor lined with banners and images of Vikings Hall of Famers and great moments in team history.

Unfortunately for Vikings fans, those moments don’t include a Super Bowl win. But the facility itself, known as the Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center, is worthy of a championship trophy in the team’s view.

Team officials, who moved into their new corporate home on Monday and opened it up for a media tour on Friday, tout it as the best facility of its kind in the National Football League — and a fitting complement to the Vikings’ new $1.1 billion stadium in downtown Minneapolis.

Designed by Crawford Architects of Kansas City, Missouri, and built by Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson, the 277,000-square-foot edifice blends futuristic technology and team branding with time-honored building materials and a dash of nostalgia.

The building consolidates team operations that used to be scattered over multiple sites, and anchors a 200-acre campus at Dodd Road and Lone Oak Parkway. The campus will eventually be developed with up to 1,000 housing units, a hotel and other uses.

The team moved to Eagan from Winter Park in Eden Prairie, the Vikings’ corporate headquarters since the early 1980s.

Kevin Warren, the Vikings’ chief operating officer, said the new building was constructed “in a very thoughtful” manner.

“As you will see, there were not many details that we left out,” Warren said during the tour.

From a design standpoint, the team calls it “modern Nordic” — a reference to the building’s traditional Scandinavian-style wood and metal materials and its contemporary furnishings.

“Modern Nordic is kind of taking the Nordic culture, Scandinavian culture, and adding a little modern twist to it,” said Jenny Haag, the team’s senior manager of construction and partnerships.

Also at the campus, Kraus-Anderson is nearing completion of two buildings for Twin Cities Orthopedics: a 76,000-square-foot office building with physical therapy and other services, and a 22,000-square-foot sports medicine center.

Those projects are will be completed later this spring. Other construction activities, including a 6,500-seat outdoor stadium that will be used for training camp and other events, will spill over into May or June.

During Friday’s tour, Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph made an appearance in the new 6,500-square-foot locker room, where wood-finished player cubicles are well-stocked with T-shirts, shoulder pads and other gear.

The locker room is about 50 percent larger than its predecessor at Winter Park. A focal point is the players’ lounge area, complete with two fireplaces. The ceiling, finished with narrow wooden beams and lighting, represents the bottom of a Viking ship.

A series of displays tell the history of the team, with photos and banners of past Vikings greats, and an “an all-time players wall” featuring every player who was ever on a Vikings roster for at least one game.

On the building’s third level, a 4,000-square-foot cafeteria seats 170 people — more than twice as many as the dining area in Winter Park — and looks out over the outdoor stadium.

Elsewhere on the third level, an office for former Vikings coach Bud Grant is modeled after his original work space from the late 1960s. It’s stocked with artwork, hunting trophies, and the original desk used by former team president and co-founder Max Winter.

There weren’t any “cryochambers” in Grant’s day. But the new building includes a two-chamber, electric-based “cryotherapy” room, where up to four players in protective gear can sit in temperatures that dip as low as minus-196 degrees. The therapy helps players recover from injuries and inflammation.

“You do feel invigorated when you get out,” said Eric Sugarman, the team’s head athletic trainer.

Another new feature is a high-tech “draft room,” where coaches and front office staff can efficiently monitor the player draft with help from a 10-foot by 40-foot display consisting of 40 55-inch TV screens.

Rick Spielman, the Vikings’ general manager, expects the new digs to be a big draw for current and future players.

“Once you walk in here, and you see those banners coming down the Super Highway, you walk in and see all the new amenities that are available to them. … I don’t think there is another building like this. I know for sure not in the NFL,” Spielman said.

Other highlights include:

A full-size indoor practice facility with 100-foot clearance that allows punting and kicking, and goal posts that are anchored from the ceiling instead of the ground.

A 6,100-square-foot weight room with free weights, strength training equipment, a 1,500-square-foot mezzanine with cardio equipment, and two garage-style doors that open to outdoor practice fields and a training hill.

A 1,750-square-foot hydrotherapy room, where up to four players can work out on an underwater treadmill.

As of February, the city of Eagan has issued building permits with a value of $154 million for construction on the campus. That includes $87 million for the headquarters building, $13.5 million for the TCO Sports Medicine Center and $12 million for the 6,500-seat outdoor stadium.

Future development on the campus is expected to play out over the next 10 to 15 years.